


The origin of the Hell Butterfly

by ScienceMachine



Category: Bleach
Genre: Dark Fairy Tale Elements, Gen, Mystery, Poetic, Psychological Horror
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-26
Updated: 2021-01-03
Packaged: 2021-03-10 23:40:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 699
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28335549
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ScienceMachine/pseuds/ScienceMachine
Summary: In this Bleach fairytale, the Shinigamis are a bit more reapers than souls, the Hollows are a bit more hollow, and the Quincys are a bit more Yhwach.All existence outside of Live's realm is an anomaly.
Relationships: Kuchiki Rukia & Kurosaki Ichigo
Comments: 2
Kudos: 12





	1. Prologue: Snow Fairy

There was a ghost beside his bed.

She was pretty, and fair.

Her presence was cold, empty, fathomless.

It brought him fear.

(In the distance, a hollow being drew closer.

A black butterfly danced in the wind, its flight bathed in  _ meaning  _ )

Ichigo exhaled, inhaled, raised his head, covered his heart in false courage.

Something was howling, his lungs were freezing.

“Who are you?”

Eyes, the color of the purple dahlias on his mother’s grave, humored him. Its mystifying irises, with their many hidden depths and strange warmth, considered the foolish child.

“A bringer of death —” A snow-fairy whispered, her breath an arctic gospel.

The howl creeped closer, and closer, and  _ closer. _

“—for the ones who were forsaken”

Weary, Ichigo faced his window, where emptiness in black skins and burlesque white mask stared at him, at the fairy, at those who were whole. Its gaze held envy.

The spirit unsheathed a sword. It  _ sang. _

(It was a winter tune)

The cold froze Ichigo’s scream.


	2. One → A ghost of a smile (do you see us, dear child?)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A butterfly’s flight is bathed in meaning.  
> Ichigo Kurosaki could see ghosts.  
> One day, his mother parted to join them.  
> For all his protection, his mind and spirit were meaningless.

A protector was born under the summer sun, from the love of a reaper and a poisoned One.

His iron skin was smooth, his blood flowed unimpeded and armor-strong towards heart and body, his soul laughed in merrymend. He was made in perfection, in equilibrium, as conceived by the Inventor’s will.

All of him was free of the limitations of the powerful.

(Someday, he shall defeat an Illuminated, a minor God)

Pity that he lacked purpose yet.

_⚘⚜ A butterfly’s flight is bathed in_ meaning. _⚜⚘_

As a budding human thing, he flourished and grew in spiritual substance and height.

Other children whispered in quiet voices about the strange fellow of auburn eyes and lost stare, of orange strands and quiet steps. They were utterly, helplessly, afraid.

(“The dead whisper, he listens” Was breathed amid games in which the object of their awed horror wasn’t included.

A sagacious one, known for his many encounters with the protector child, warned, “One day, he will hear us…

And no one else will”)

Chuckles interrupted their gosip, little gusts of air coming from afar.

A hybrid being covered his mouth in blue snow gloves, unafraid of the blood dripping on the ground like crimson raindrops. His guest told another joke, waving her arms to exaggerate the tale, her ripped midsection gushing more blood.

Little Ichigo was unafraid.

_⚘⚜ Ichigo Kurosaki could see ghosts.⚜⚘_

It wasn’t the rarest quirk to have if you were from more than one world.

His mother often reminded her children of this fact. Mama, his baby sisters and small Ichigo were part of the One, and He of them.

Who this all powerful being was? His mother often said, “Better not ask”

Then her pretty face would turn uneasy, almost scared, “Or tell your dad”

Papa too was special, she when asked would specify, but his blood is too bloody, and he was as foolish as the worst of them. It was simply for the best to never tell, and let Goat Face maintain his secrets.

(Sometimes papa’s smile was a Glasgow smile, his joints would lock and unlock like un-oiled screws, and his eyes lost the brightness of life.

Those times he visited an old friend of his, and the weirdness was fixed.)

His family was special, and Ichigo was unafraid.

_⚘⚜ One day, his mother parted to join his ghosts.⚜⚘_

He transmuted, closed off his heart. He no longer treated the dead like his mortal peers, for his error still haunted him. As a protector, to differentiate people’s needs was a most, either alive or dead.

One mistake was too many.

Ichigo took over the household duties while his father mourned, taught them to his sisters a little at a time when asked, and kicked Goat Face into something resembling a money provider when the funds got too low.

All in all, he took his lot in life and did with it what he could.

He still lacked purpose.

_⚘⚜ For all his protection, his mind and spirit were meaningless.⚜⚘_

Until the day the Snow Fairy visited, and later bowed to the Inventor’s charm.

(Ichigo screamed for a long, long time.

Something had changed inside himself.

He had fallen under the Reaper’s spell.)

Kurosaki Ichigo was _afraid_.


End file.
